Italy played a terrible first half

Italy started the second round of qualification for the World Cup with a victory. Due to the well-known war situation, the Ukrainians played the game in Riga. They put up a worthy resistance, but the favored guest still won 97-89 at the end. Italy played a terrible first half. In the first quarter, we saw an actual game. That period of play ended with a score of 19-19. In the second period, we had the opportunity to see the great game of the home team. Ukraine started this period with a 10-0 streak. Until the end of the half, the home team maintained its advantage. Before the break, Ukraine had a 45-34 advantage.

Italians scored 63 points in the second half

In this game, we saw the destruction of a tradition. Namely, in the previous 16 matches of Italy in the qualifiers, the team that would have the advantage in the first half celebrated. Ukraine failed to maintain a big lead in the second half. The team that was officially the host in Latvia played a disastrous defense in the second half. The Italians scored as many as 63 points in the second half. The visitors came back into the game in the third quarter. In this quarter, the Italians scored as many as 38 points and gained an advantage of five points. The Ukrainians were equal until a few minutes before the end of the game. The team led by Gianmarco Pozzecco from the bench broke the game four minutes before the end. At that moment, the Italians led 86-76.

Fontecchio scored 20 points

The home team did not have the strength to come back and after this defeat they have a score of 1-4. As in the previous qualifying matches, Toronto Raptors player Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk stood out in the defeated team with 11 points. Volodymyr Gerun, Denys Lukashov and Artem Pustovyi scored 10 points each. In the winning team, the best player was the guy who will play for the Utah Jazz next season. Simone Fontecchio scored 20 points.

Nicolo Melli, who previously played in the NBA, recorded a performance of 17 points and 6 rebounds. Nico Mannion scored 11 points and had 9 rebounds. In the crucial moments, the new acquisition of Olimpia from Milano, Stefano Tonut, played brilliantly, scoring 11 points and adding 4 rebounds. Danilo Gallinari, a member of the Boston Celtics from next season, scored 10 points. In the next round in three days, Italy welcomes Georgia, while Ukraine visits Iceland.